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Saturday, May 14, 2005

EVERYBODY WALK THE DINOSAUR

It's been a while since I've checked out the science section of Yahoo! and to my luck, when I finally did, I found out about a new dinosaur exhbit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The exhibit called Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, appears to focus on the new evidence that suggests that some dinos had feathers and wings and were way more birdlike than previously thought. For even the most basic of science nerd wannabes like myself, the knowledge that dinos and birds are closely related is old news, but it appears that this exhibit probably probes deeper inside this, and shows new evidence and theories. My friend Dave (who is in town to perform on monday at Lit as The Lost Weekend -- he sounds a bit like Nick Cave and surprisingly great -- and if you're from LA you might know him as Hardcore Dave from Swingers) and Brian have both already agreed to come with me to the exhibit, and if I can about 10 others it'll be like a reinactment of the class trip I took to the museum as a kiddie. I wonder if the dinosaurs will seem as big -- probably since I grew only about 4 inches since then.

Last night I went to see Army of Me and The Five O'Clock Heroes at Rothko. At first, when AOM were about to get on stage, I turned to Karen with a bit of stress in my voice and asked her "Where is everyone?" The room was a bit more empty than I had expected, but one or two songs into the set I made my way to the front of the room to watch Vintz command the stage like a young Buck(ley). When I turned around I saw a sea of people all staring up. Now, I know this is probably REALLY uncool to say, but when have I ever cared about being cool?, but there's something about AOM that reminds me of Maroon5. I don't know if it's Vintz voice or maybe the way that I'm sometimes psychic about shit (I shit you not, I am actually pretty psychic about many things - less so now than before - but I can see into the future and how things will be in like 2 years ... which would explain why i knew that the killers, interpol, franz, and my chemical romance would be huge)... anyway, i'm psychic about shit sometimes, and I look at AOM and I'm like, "fuck, in 8-12 months there will be little girls cooing in the audience with the hollister gear singing "i'm going through changes!" which to them will be about puberty.

The Five O'Clock Heroes are just getting more and more amazing with every show. They'll be opening up for the Bravery on monday, so if you're going to that show, make sure you arrive early enough to catch them. Audrey came up to me after their set and was totally delighted by how good they were saying "They're such stars!" or something to that effect, and I have to agree. For one thing, the boys obviously love each other, and you can sense that brotherhood on stage. Not that that matters at all, but there's something about that sort of fraternizing that pulls you in while you're watching. As if they're love for each other is infectious and if you're having a shitty day and see it, suddenly you sort of feel like someone you dont know could love you too. Then there's obviously the songs. As I venture out into this new chapter of my life where I'm starting a label, I'm becoming more and more aware of the ability for a band to write a good song. Now, there are bands that are fucking amazing and don't necessarily have songs as much as they have pieces of music -- like Sigur Ros or even Interpol and Arcade Fire simply because they break the rules of the basic "verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus/etc," which, if you're those bands, doesn't matter because your music compositions are so moving that giving it that structure would only fuck with what is already perfect -- but then there are bands that don't have songs, and they don't have pieces of music. They could try to go with the structure, but sometimes there's something missing. A lack of catchiness, something that doesn't stick in your heads, too much of nothing... you all probably know what I'm talking about cause you have all probably gone to see your friend's band play and couldn't sing a single song of theirs 5 minutes after the show. Then you also have the bands that are too good at doing that song structure thing that they lose all sense of personality, feeling and emotion in their songs. The compositions become steril in their awareness and everything is lost. The Five O'Clock Heroes -- for as much as I've resisted thinking so because they're my friend's band and I am usually hypercritical of my friend's bands because I fear my love for my friends will over shadow their acutal ability -- write good songs. They write the songs that you remember when you don't even realize you remember them. Quotes from lyrics pop into your head as you're typing IMs. Melodies and beats dictate your steps as you're strolling down the street. A song of theirs pops up on your itunes randomly and you're like "i love this song! who is this?" and you realize it's the Heroes.

I have two friends who front rock bands that you will know the songs of very soon.

In keeping with the the "Where is everyone?" tradition of the night... When Karen and I got to Orchard Bar with Ellen the Model (after stopping at a bakery to pick up a lamb shaped cake with a protruding cigarette for Gurj's birthday), I asked Karen that same question. She reminded me that it was only a bit passed 12 and that the crowd usually comes at around 1am. So, as Jamiroquai would say, there's nothing left for us to do but dance. Which i did 90's flygirl style. Now, I could only imagine that patrons of the bar were texting thier friends saying "Yo, some girl is dancing like all 'In Living Color' up in this piece. get down here!" cause a half hour later the club was packed, people were dancing and have fun. I'm so stoked that our party is fun, cause that's all we want it to be. We want everyone who wants to be there to be there and on the dance floor and sweating and drinking. I even brought a bottle of Manishwitz Conocord Grape Wine (Synoguage style) for everyone to share and drink and be merry. Next week I'll bring a bigger bottle and maybe two flavors. I don't think this wine even gets you drunk as much as it tastes awesome. DELICIOUSLY AWESOME.

About Me

Sarah Lewitinn (born February 3, 1980), also known by her nickname Ultragrrrl, is a music critic, DJ, and blogger. She gained notoriety as an assistant editor at SPIN Magazine.
In 2006, New York magazine named Lewitinn as one of "The Most Influential People in Music", citing that "she has more power than any print music critic".